Officials in the Greek community have pledged to crack down on
hazing, after University administrators announced they are looking
into hazing allegations against at least seven chapters.

“We’re going to be a lot harsher about hazing this
year. I was irritated at a few of (the houses) about how blatant
they were,” said LSA sophomore Bryce Bach, who is head of the
Greek community’s Hazing Taskforce. Bach said all of the
allegations are being investigated, but the more serious ones have
been taken over by the Ann Arbor Police Department because of the
new anti-hazing state law passed in August.

Offenders of the law can face misdemeanor charges when hazing
causes physical injury, or felony charges if hazing leads to
serious bodily impairment or death.

“We have been informed of a number of incidents on campus
involving fraternities and sororities,” said Lt. Chris
Heatley, the coordinating detective investigating the allegations
at AAPD.

Heatley was unable to comment on the specific fraternities and
sororities involved, but said AAPD does not have evidence of any
criminal activity at this point.

“We’re trying to determine if anything happened and
the important thing that gets stressed out of this exercise is that
AAPD is working with the Department of Public Safety. …
We’re taking it very seriously,” Heatley said.

DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown confirmed that the University police
force is working with AAPD “to find out what the scope of the
issue is.”

DPS discovered the hazing allegations while arresting students
on campus for illegal activity. “DPS started to realize that
perhaps their state of drunkenness was related to pledging
activity,” Brown said.

Some of the allegations include students being forced to consume
large amounts of alcohol, paddling and clothes being ripped off
sorority pledges.

There is a difference between someone who vandalizes property
because they’re drunk and someone who vandalizes property
because someone else told them they had to, Brown added.

Although it is still early in the investigation, Brown said
somewhere between five and 10 incidents may have been reported.
“We will keep trying to explore whether or not there was any
criminal activity,” Brown said.

Bach said the Hazing Taskforce is also taking the allegations
seriously.

The taskforce, which meets every Thursday, will look at all of
the cases individually before making any decisions regarding
disciplinary action. Five officers on the task force are trained in
the investigation process.

When an allegation arises, the taskforce first interviews house
members. Depending on the allegations, the taskforce then decides
what action to take, Bach said.